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[Out of the "blue" would be worth a handful of horrible jokes in its own right, but the subject matter demands their attention a little more thoroughly. The response come shortly.]

Not since we were in space.

Why?

huh okay

was he acting pretty normally?

or at least, you know, normal for him?

like did he say anything weird?

What kind of weird?

[Mettaton is always...Mettaton. A bit dramatic, at times, but that's just him. They don't mind it.]

i don't know...it's kinda hard to describe.

kind of aloof i guess. distant

and self-deprecating.

which doesn't seem like him, right?

see i dunno, things have been kind of weird between us for awhile now

so i thought it must just be me.

[Just Sans ruining the people around him like usual. A day ending in Y.]

but he said some weird stuff during the event in space that made me realize it's not just me.

i was pretty tired [Drunk.] at the time so i don't remember all of it

but it was something about how he didn't believe he could even have real friendships

and then his mirror messaged me yesterday, and that was weird

and i told mettaton about it and that was weirder

have you ever talked to his mirror?

[Doesn't seem like him at all, no. Aloof. Self-deprecating. He mentioned that things between him and Mettaton were "weird," but they've only just reached a point where they can say with certainty that they're friends with him again.

Is that why he feels like he...?

That's it.

That's the reason.

Isn't it?]

Back in September.

He was being pushy. I told Mettaton he was being pushy, and Mettaton found us. His mirror looked really happy about it though.

I didn't like him.

yeah, september

i met him then too. real piece of work.

though i did dunk him in the swimming pool, so maybe he just hates me in particular.

[That could explain why he messaged Sans but not Frisk. Or maybe Mirrorton just doesn't know that Frisk and Mettaton are even talking again.]

how did mettaton act around his mirror?

like did he seem...defensive of his mirror at all?

and what do you mean by pushy exactly?

if you don't mind telling me that is

sorry for all these questions

i just think something's going on

[Good. He deserved it.]

It's ok. I wasn't really talking to him for a while.

[So they're getting...caught up, so to speak. On what's happened since then, in those months when they haven't exactly talked to him as much. It's a little hard to ask someone what's been going on in their life since you stopped talking to him. Or maybe it's just hard for them. Being who they are.]

He didn't want me around him.

Called the real Mettaton his "other half." Wouldn't stop touching him. Even tried to thank me for getting him to find us.

[The memory of that smug, satisfied look on his face - they should've known something was wrong. Should've known better than to let things lie there.]

What's wrong?

jeez, yeah. that sounds about right.

weirdo.

[And if it goes back that far, then--good lord, has Mirrorton been stalking Mettaton the entire time?]

mirrorton messaged me yesterday

i guess he broke into mirror sans's room so he could write on my mirror

he said a whole lot of pretty gross stuff

like how he "owns" mettaton, and how he's been eavesdropping

he knew details about a conversation i'd had with mettaton back during the flood

[Details that Sans is pretty damn sure Mettaton would never share with anyone else, let alone a Mirror.]

and the way it sounded, this has been happening for awhile

i think he's stalking mettaton

i tried to tell mettaton about it and he...

just kind of brushed me off.

like he didn't think it was a big deal

he was saying that his mirror really isn't all that bad

he made it sound almost liked they'd been talking

which i just...don't understand.

why would metta talk to a guy that kinda made his life hell back in september?

i mean, maybe

maybe i really am just being paranoid.

i know i have some hang-ups about mirrors

but...i dunno

it just feels wrong.

[Has Sans's Mirror even been...they haven't heard from him in quite a while, or anything of him. And with everything he was seemingly hinging on Papyrus, his disappearance must have made things harder. They don't check on many of the Mirrors; not aside from Chara's.

But Mettaton's.

He's obsessed, isn't he? Owns him. Trying to keep him...

Ha ha.

Something prickles up their spine. The phantom memory of snapping bone, derisive laughter, the way fingers had broken like matchsticks beneath the right application of pressure. And the memory of a promise, to open the gateway to the cauldron to Hell.

I'll protect you and your dreams.]

Why would someone like me work with a Mirror that hurt me back in September?

[It's not out of the question, is it?

It's not out of the question at all.]

[That.]

[He was not expecting that.]

[He was not expecting it to come out that easily. Frisk is always fiercely protective of just about everyone around them.]

sorry?

which

who was it?

[They never told him. Did they?

...no. They never do. Why would they, or should they? Their Mirror probably bragged about it for every step of the way. They don't need protection from anyone, much less the person they -

They never do.]

Why do people keep asking that

[Shouldn't it have been obvious?]

They always wanted to get rid of me. That was just the one thing we could agree on

we knew a mirror was involved we just didn't

it was yours?

[A Mirror who hurt them in September. A Mirror who wanted to get rid of them.]

[Why? Why would they trust them? Why would anyone trust someone who was so obviously...]

[Well, it's not really about trust, is it? It's about a mutual goal. And it's not obvious. Not from the inside, is it? You can't see the forest when you're in the middle of it. You can only see it from the outside.]

[It's only when you leave and look back that you realize how lost you were.]

aw jeez frisk

i'm sorry.

[Is it the same with Mettaton, then?]

They knew what I wanted. They wanted it too. They knew how to get it.

So we tried our best.

[It didn't matter, in the end. It hardly mattered at all, what they'd done to hurt them. Because things would reach a conclusion, and if the goal was mutually assured destruction, what would the point be in pretending that wasn't what both of them wanted?

It's what they always must have wanted.

They're still a Frisk.

Despite everything.]

[It all makes sense. It all makes perfect, horrible sense. It's probably the one way that the two of them could work together, the one thing they would agree on.]

[Frisks, maybe all of them, want to remove themselves from the equation. Maybe the only variation is in how badly they want to do it.]

i should've figured it out sooner

or i should've at least asked.

[He didn't ask. He never asks. He just--he figured they wouldn't tell him. He figured they'd keep it a secret, maybe to protect whoever it was.]

i'm

this is going to sound weird

but i'm glad you failed.

I guess I am too.

[Is Mettaton's mirror - is he maybe doing the same thing? Maybe not to the same end, but the same function, the same process? For a mutually assured purpose. For something they can agree on.

But what.]

Who's "we"?

[They guess. It's good enough. Maybe it's the sort of thing they'll never really be sure about. These things...don't just get fixed overnight, or even over the course of months. It's probably the sort of thing that takes a whole lot of work.]

[Where does this leave Mettaton, then? Is Mirrorton trying to off Mettaton as well, maybe--take his place or something? Stalkers are unreasonable, deluded. Sans can't really fathom what Mirrorton's end goal must be. But clearly whatever it is, it requires isolating Mettaton from...just about everyone else in his life.]

well

me and chara

after what happened we realized we needed to know who it was

so that something like that couldn't happen again

so we knew who to look out for

i guess we

or at least i

thought that you wouldn't just up and tell us who it was

you're kinda, you know

protective of people

[It was nice being on the same side as Chara. For a little while there. It ws nice almost being something like...]

i guess something like that *did* end up happening again anyway

if i'm right and mirrorton is doing something to metta

always comes back to mirrors doesn't it

[Can't...ha ha, can't blame him for thinking that he couldn't, can they! He's making a perfectly logical assumption. Given their track record, could you blame him? They're not what you'd call trustworthy, exactly. Breaking promises, making all the wrong decisions, pushing people away...

You can't trust someone like them. Not to make their own decisions.

People know better.]

You could've asked.

[Stare at the message for a long, long moment.

Press the "delete" key, over and over, until it's utterly erased.]

What do you think he's doing?

i don't really know

it's like he's trying to isolate metta

and it's like metta doesn't think we care about him or something

or like he's trying to push us away but doesn't want to really?

at least that's what it's been like on my end.

[He could understand it if it was just him, if it was just Mettaton trying to distance himself from Sans. But that comment about not having real friendships was on a much broader scale.]

i just don't know anything for sure

like i said he just brushed me off when i tried bringing it up

like...he was covering for mirrorton or something.

[Whose fault is that, exactly?

The first person to prove that they knew his secret. That they were taking advantage of it. Never thought to tell him what they knew, and made things so much worse, for months.

The first person to push him away.

Whose fault is that, exactly?]

Something happened.

At his most vulnerable moment, he was there.

[He didn't make it easy, though. He didn't make it clean, cutting into someone's heart and SOUL and cleaving them to pieces. He worked his way in, instead. Settled down to make himself cozy. Not for a short-term burst of cooperation. That's a level of patience their own Mirror could never achieve.]

[And then it makes sense.]

[It makes horrible sense.]

[Getting to the point where you'll hold onto anything or anyone. You get vulnerable, you get desperate, and someone takes advantage. Isn't that exactly what happened with Frisk?]

[Isn't that what happened a long time ago, with...]

[Well, it doesn't matter.]

[It's just...he's Mettaton. Sans figured all that confidence wouldn't allow for something like this. That Mettaton was...different. From him, from Frisk, from the rest of them.]

[It's like he always assumed about Papyrus. How he always convinced himself that Papyrus was just happy all the time because he was just--like that. And he is, but there's more to it than that. Of course there is. Of course even someone like Papyrus has off days, moments of vulnerability. Everyone does. Absolutely everyone.]

[He made it worse, didn't he? He made it worse. He ignored the warning signs--just like last time. Figured it was just himself, when he should know better by now. Should know it's never about him. He made assumptions, like he always does, and he made it worse.]

[He always makes it worse. Why the hell does he keep trying? Why the hell did he let Wonderland convince him that he should just keep trying? Who is he kidding? He has never done anything to make anything better here. Not a single thing.]

[Why can't he just give up again?]

what do we do

[He's asking them.

Why's he asking them? They can - they're the one with the special power, still. The one who knows everything. The one who, with what little power they have, can still make things right.

The one who can recognize when something's gone this catastrophically wrong, because they were on the other side of it, once.

What do we do?

What do we do?]

Don't

Don't push him.

Makes him easier to use if he feels like we don't really care

[They'd know. Wouldn't they?]

What's he want?

The mirror

i already did

i already messaged him and i pushed

[Oh god. Oh god, he's going to lose another one. He's going to lose someone else. It's happening all over again.]

[It's a Reset. It all keeps happening. It's never going to stop.]

[No. No, stop. It's not about you. It's not about you at all. It's about Mettaton. you didn't even save them for them, did you? Save Mettaton for Mettaton this time.]

[Only he can't save people. He doesn't save people. Even when he wants to, even when he actually tries.]

[Stop. Stop it. This isn't helping anyone.]

i don't know

he's a stalker, right?

stalkers want the person they're stalking all to themselves

he sounded really jealous when he messaged me.

It's ok.

It worked with me. It might not work with him.

[They were just one person, and there was Chara on his side, and everyone else who worked with him to keep them here - will they have to do the same, all over again? Just - on the other side?

Maybe things will never need to get that far.

Knowing, in the heart of it, that they'll have to.]

He doesn't want us near him.

We can't leave him alone. Even if he pushes back.

[But how does someone do this? How does he do this? He did it so wrong with Frisk. And no one ever did it with Sans back then, though someone--he can't remember who--someone tried. Someone tried, and it didn't work, and then it was too late for everyone and everything.]

[And he can't just ask Frisk. He can't just act like Frisk must have all the answers. They're thirteen, for god's sake. He's the adult, he's supposed to--he's supposed to know. He's the guy who knows. That's all he is. That's the point of him. He's not a real person, he's just...the guy who's supposed to know.]

so we make sure we're there for him

and the others will want to help

napsta, alphys

i know chara and metta are good friends

i don't know about toriel or asgore

and he must have non-underground friends too right?

[But who? God, why doesn't Sans know these things?]

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